'Go visit ur dead brother' was text that sparked Deerfield beating

'Stop txtn mi phone rapest,' girl told teen who later attacked her

May 21, 2010|By Rafael A. Olmeda, Sun Sentinel

FORT LAUDERDALE — The text message that Wayne Treacy said provoked him to beat Josie Lou Ratley was a cold brushoff meant to cut short an unpleasant exchange, with a reference to his brother's suicide that Treacy admitted sent him into an uncontrollable rage.

About three hours later, Treacy, 15, found Ratley at a bus stop at Deerfield Beach Middle School, knocked her down and stomped on her head with his brother's steel-toe boots, police say. Treacy is charged with attempted murder.

The assault on Ratley, 15, damaged her brain. More than two months later, she can barely speak and is relearning basic skills such as reading and recalling the days of the week.

The message transcript was released Friday morning by Treacy's Fort Lauderdale lawyer, Russell Williams. He said the back-and-forth was copied from Treacy's e-mail account soon after the attack, but it has since vanished from the teen's inbox.

Williams said it's possible some messages are missing from the transcript he has. He is waiting for prosecutors to obtain and release a complete set from computer and cell phone records.

Assistant State Attorney Maria Schneider was out of town Friday and unavailable to comment.

Williams decided to release the text after prosecutors on Thursday released the first part of Treacy's videotaped interview with a Broward sheriff's detective. Treacy told the detective the message that sent him over the edge "wasn't that bad."

The threat was not the first Treacy made during the text exchange, though Ratley didn't seem to take it seriously.

The response from her phone: "K, u make me giggle."

"Watch how much you laugh when I strangle the life outta you!!" Treacy wrote back. "You're f-----. You said the wrong thing to the worst person."

Williams said it had been raining that day and Treacy did not want to ruin a new pair of sneakers, so he put on his brother's steel-toe boots. Then Treacy bicycled three miles from his home in Pompano Beach to Deerfield Beach Middle School.

There he found his friend, Kayla Manson, 13, who prosecutors said knew Treacy's intent and led him to Ratley at the campus bus stop. Manson is charged as an accomplice.

Williams said Michael Brannon, the psychologist who examined Treacy, thinks the offending text message was not at the center of Treacy's thoughts as he rode to the school.

"What played in his head wasn't what Josie said. It was his brother hanging from a tree," Williams said, citing Brannon.

Brannon is not talking to the media about the case. Williams has said Treacy's mental health will be a key part of his defense.

Last week, Williams said Ratley did not seem to know she was pushing dangerous buttons with Treacy, whose brother committed suicide in October.